1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of computer networks. In particular, various embodiments relate to methods and systems for providing centralized access to controller-based access points for management, control and debugging of faults in access points, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
Before the advent of wireless networks, setting up a computer network in a business, home, or school infrastructure required running of many cables through walls and ceilings in order to provide network access to all computer devices in the infrastructure. With the advent of wireless networks, the physical infrastructure requirements to support communication among computer devices were significantly lessened. A wireless Access Point (AP) is an example of a wireless network device that allows wireless devices to connect to a wired network. With the creation of APs, network users and/or administrators are able to add devices to a network with few or no cables. An AP can be directly connected to a wired Ethernet connection, providing wireless connections to other devices to utilize the wired connection of Ethernet using radio frequency links. APs can support connection of multiple computing devices to a single wired connection. APs can send and receive data packets using radio frequencies defined by the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard.
A wireless controller or Access Controller (AC) is a wireless network device that can be configured to manage one or more APs within a wireless network. ACs can be used in large organizations, for example, in which multiple computing devices or client devices need to be wirelessly connected to multiple APs, and where all the APs need to be managed and controlled efficiently at a single point. Existing ACs typically can be connected to and manage about 500 APs.
ACs can automatically receive and store details of all connected APs upon configuration of the APs within a network. ACs can also use stored details of the managed APs during transmission of packets within the wireless network and can also use the stored details to update or modify a particular managed AP, detect and identify faults in the managed APs and troubleshoot the identified faults so that data transmission continues in an uninterrupted manner.
Updating, modifying, troubleshooting or debugging faults of one or more managed APs within a large wireless network infrastructure can be a complex and challenging task for a network administrator. The network administrator may first need to identify the particular AP that is to be updated or modified or has experienced certain faults, which in turn depends upon the creation and maintenance of a list of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of managed APs by the AC. As IP addresses of APs are capable of being changed periodically with or without administrator intervention, maintaining, updating, and monitoring the list of IP addresses is a cumbersome task.
In the context of existing ACs, the AC needs to initiate a separate telnet/SSH session for each managed AP to access or otherwise interact with the APs. As such, multiple telnet/SSH sessions are required to be run in parallel to monitor and manage multiple APs. Maintaining the multiple telnet/SSH sessions can be a processor and memory intensive task, resulting in decreased efficiency of the AC. The multiple telnet/SSH sessions also complicate the task of the network administrator.
Furthermore, since each AC is typically configured to manage a defined number of APs, in a large network infrastructure, a network administrator may need to manage multiple ACs, each of which in turn manages a defined set of APs.
In order to make connecting to, managing, and maintaining APs in a wire less network more simple, easy and efficient, it would be desirable to have centralized access to all AC-based APs in the network and more efficient mechanisms to monitor and manage such APs.